Wall concealed air mixing device



Oct. 29, 1957 J. w. KICE 2,811,091

WALL CONCEALED AIR MIXING DEVICE Original Filed Nov. 1, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 N V EN TOR.

ATTORNF Y5 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 .1- W. KICE WALL CONCEALED AIR MIXING DEVICE @MQN\\\\\ Q Oct. 29, 1957 Original Filed Nov. 1, 1950 ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent WALL CONCEALED AIR MIXING DEVICE Jack W. Kice, Wichita, Kans., assignor to The Coleman Company, Inc., Wichita, Kans., a corporation of Kansas Continuation of application Serial No. 193,477, Novembe; 1, 1950. This application May 4, 1954, Serial No. 42 ,415

1 Claim. (Cl. 98-38) This invention relates to a wall concealed air mixing device. The invention is particularly useful in the mixing of heated air with room air for the heating of a room and in which it is desired to place the air mixer cabinet within the studding space of a wall.

The present application constitutes a continuation of my co-pending application Serial No. 193,477 filed November 1, 1950, now abandoned.

In the installation of heating systems including wall air mixers in buildings having rooms of different dimensions and different heights, it is necessary for the installing workmen to fabricate on the job metal cabinet mixers which will fit the wall spaces in proper adjustment for the height of each room. Considerable expense is involved, the work requires considerable time, and delay in the completion of the building or heating installation results.

An air mixer cabinet is generally provided with a spaced-apart inlet and outlet. Blended or mixed air is discharged through the outlet, while room air which will be mixed within the cabinet with hot air is drawn in through the inlet. Customarily, the hot air will be provided from a central source such as a hot air furnace that is located within the basement or utility room of a house. Since the location of the furnace is fixed, it will be apparent that the various air mixer cabinets used throughout the house (generally one per room) will be at different distances from the furnace. The heated air travelling to the mixer cabinets is forced under pressure and at relatively high velocity through conduits of relatively small cross section. Some frictional losses within the conduits occur, and the hot air discharging into air mixer cabinets spaced a considerable distance from the furnace will have a lower velocity than air discharged into cabinets that are fairly close to the furnace.

It would be desirable if means could be provided for easily and selectively adjusting the spacing between the air inlet and air outlet in a mixer cabinet, for in this manner the degree of mixing of hot air with room air in the cabinet could be controlled. Thus, the temperature of the air expelled through the outlet could be maintained at some predetermined value irrespective of the velocity of the heated air entering the mixer cabinet.

An object of the present invention is to provide an air mixer cabinet structure which may be extended or contracted to adjust the inlets and outlets thereof for use in rooms of different heights, etc. Yet another object is to provide a cabinet which may be shipped in collapsed condition with the main parts thereof in telescoping relation while permitting an extension of the cabinet to fit the studding space of a building for providing inlets and outlets at desired heights for the various rooms.

A still further object is to provide an air mixing cabinet adapted to be concealed within a wall and which is longitudinally adjustable within the wall space to bring the inlets and outlets of the cabinet at the desired relative levels, while at the same time providing for the introduction of heated air through a pipe of relatively small cross section extensible longitudinally of the cabinet. Yet another object is to provide in such a cabinet structure telescoping shell parts adapting the cabinet for serving rooms of different heights while at the same time providing air turning vanes for directing the air through the discharge port and away from the ceiling or adjacent walls.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for selectively adjusting the spacing between the inlet and outlet ports of an air mixer cabinet whereby the degree of mixing to take place within the cabinet is controlled with the result that the temperature of the air discharged through the outlet could be held at the same predetermined value irrespective of the distance of the air mixer cabinet from the source of heated air. Still a further object is to provide an air mixer cabinet having telescoping sections, one provided with an air inlet adjacent an end thereof and the other provided with an air outlet adjacent an end thereof, the distance between the air inlet and air outlet being adjustable by altering the position of the telescoping sections relative to each other. Other specific objects and advantages will appear as the specification proceeds. r

The invention is shown in an illustrative embodiment,

Fig. l is a perspective view of a cabinet embodying my invention and shown in collapsed position within a crate; Fig. 2, a perspective view of the cabinet in extended position; Fig. 3, a vertical sectional view of the cabinet or mixer shell mounted within a wall; Fig. 4, a broken front view in elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 3; and Fig. 5, a broken enlarged vertical sectional view of the cabinet structure.

In the illustration given, A designates an air mixer cabinet which is installed in a wall having the usual studs 11 on the sides of the cabinet and walls 12 and 13 on the front and rear sides of the cabinet.

The cabinet A comprises an upper shell 14 and a lower shell 15, the lower shell 15 being of slightly smaller dimensions and being telescopically received within the upper shell 14.

The upper shell 14 is relatively wide and of reduced thickness so as to fit rather snugly between the studs 11 of a building. The upper end of the shell is provided with a forwardly extending outlet 16 which extends through the room wall or panel 12, as shown more clearly in Fig. 3. The outlet portion of the shell 14 may be employed with or without turning vanes. I prefer, however, to employ turning vanes and a suitable structure is illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 5. To a reinforcing side strip 17 are secured the turning vanes 18 in the upper portion of the outlet and relatively short vanes 19 in the lower portion of the outlet. The vanes are formed of fiat metal strips having their edge portions turned rearwardly at 20, as shown more clearly in Fig. 5.

I prefer also to provide the outlet with an opening or openings 21 through which nails or other securing means may be passed to secure the upper shell portion 14 tightly against the adjacent studs 11.

The lower shell 15 may rest upon a portion of the building frame and no attachment thereto may be required. The lower shell is provided with a forwardly extending duct 22 adapted to extend through the wall 12, as illustrated in Fig. 3. In the specific illustration given, a valve-controlled inlet pipe 23 extends through the bottom wall 24 of the shell 15 and extends above the inlet opening provided by the duct 22. The pipe 23 is described in greater detail in my co-pending application Serial No. 769,572 filed July 12, 1947. The pipe 23 may be employed for conducting highly heated air from a hot air furnace equipped with a blower so that the heated air which is discharged beyond the inlet duct 22 induces a flow of room air through the inlet and upwardly toward the outlet duct 16, the highly heated air from pipe 23 and the induced room air being mixed in its passage upwardly through the cabinet A. The pipe 23 may also be employed for introducing cooled air into the mixer cabinet formixture with room air.

The pipe 23,, which is of relative small cross section, compared to the cross section of the cabinet, may be fixed within the cabinet so as to project a definite distance therein or it may be supported for longitudinal movement within the cabinet whereby the length of the pipe within the cabinet may be adjusted to meet any desired conditions. .Such a fixed or slidably-mounted pipe or duct 23 may be mounted in either end of the cabinet as described in my abovementioned application; that is, the pipe may extend through the upper wall of the top shell and downwardly into the cabinet beyond the duct 16 or it may extend through the other end as indicated in the drawings.

The cabinet may be shipped in collapsed condition with the upper shell 14 substantially enclosing the lower shell 15 except for the inlet duct 22 thereof, and in this collapsed condition the cabinet may be shipped within a crate 25, as indicated by broken lines in Fig. 1.

When it is desired to install the cabinet within a wall, the shell parts 14 and 15 may be placed within the studding space (or other wall space) and extended to the desired positions, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. If the room is one of relatively low height, the shell parts may be telescoped so as to contract the height of the cabinet. Further. irrespective of the height of the Wall of the room, there may be definite reasons why the discharge port should be at a certain elevation or level above the inlet port of the cabinet. With the telescoped structure shown, this adjustment can be readily made.

For example, if the mixer cabinet is positioned in a room that is quite remote from the hot air furnace, the inlet and outlet ports can be moved closer to each other by simply shortening the length of the cabinet. Thus, even though the velocity of the hot air discharging into the cabinet is considerably reduced due to the frictional losses within the flow conduit, the temperature of the air flowing outwardly through the outlet or discharge port can be held to the most efficient value because the degree of mixing within the cabinet is reduced by changing the length thereof. On the other hand. when a cabinet is positioned within a room that is quite close to the furnace, the length of the cabinet may be increased and the spacing between the ports thereby increased. Therefore, though the hot air enters the cabinet at a greater velocity it will mix more thoroughly with the room air drawn into the cabinet because the cabinet has a greater length. By proper regulation of the length of the cabinet, the most desirable temperature for the air discharging therefrom can be attained.

Further, if desired, the hot air pipe may be similarly adjusted longitudinally of the cabinet. Thus, without requiring the fabrication of any structure, the new cabinet alt] may be made to fit a selected wall space or adjusted to discharge air at any desired level, meeting the specific needs of a room. Such adjustment further may be made to improve the action of the air-turning vanes so that the air directed from the outlet duct is prevented from streaking walls or causing the air to pack in the discharge end of the apparatus. The length of the cabinet may be regulated to cooperate with the air-turning effect of the vanes to produce the desired flow of air from the cabinet into the room.

The damper or control valve within pipe 23 is equipped with an operating handle 26 or with any suitable means for manually or automatically varying the flow of air within the pipe.

While in the foregoing specification I have shown a specific structure in considerable detail, for the purpose of illustrating one embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that such details of structure may be varied widely by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

In an air circulation system, a plurality of air mixer cabinets adapted for installation in room wall spaces, means communicating said air mixer cabinets to a source of pressurized air, said source providing said cabinets with air at different velocities depending upon the remoteness of said cabinets therefrom, each of said air mixer cabinets comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending shell members telescopically engaging each other to provide a longitudinally adjustable chamber extending from end to the other of said cabinet, each of said shell members being supportable in said wall independently of the other of said shell members, the shell members defining opposite ends of said cabinets having laterally extending ducts adapted to extend through openings in a room wall, and a pipe of reduced cross section extending through one of said shell members defining opposite ends of said cabinet and longitudinally thereof to a point adjacent one of said ducts, a cabinet closer to said source having a greater length than those cabinets more remote from said source.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,170,551 Marty Feb. 8, 1916 1,303,210 Klein May 6, 1919 1,717,327 Sponar June 11, 1929 2,005,226 Dwyer June 18, 1935 2,044,761 Becvar June 23, 1936 2,217,428 Alben Oct. 8, 1940 2,295,251 Baker Sept. 8, 1942 2,359,579 Peck Oct. 3, 1944 2,528,650 Graham Nov. 7, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 379,430 Great Britain Sept. 1, 1932 

